Part 129: Episode XII: Opening Plus

Especially when it wasn't even Episode X, but XI. I think I'll switch to just calling them 'Part 7' or whatever -- that way I don't give away when it's over right at the start of an update. I wondered if anyone would pick up on that.

Ok so the record moves to 6 wins, 5 losses, and once again my streak of never losing twice in a row with the same race is under pressure.

Episode XII: Opening Plus

Starting Save File: https://www.dropbox.com/s/bqo2ncotu.../SAVE2.GAM?dl=0

The Alkari return under Farseer, large galaxy, blah blah blah. Now right off the start I need to put out a PSA: I had a computer crash which lost me most of the first half-century. So what you'll see here is briefer than usual. I still have all the screenshots but for the most part I don't remember exactly what order they came in, and so I'm basically just going to hit the high points and give what information I can that I recall.




Klackons are the only strong race here: no Psilons once again, no Humans to worry about, etc. Overall a pretty good draw of enemies. We're on the left flank with the lower-left looking very empty. Pretty even distribution of homeworld locations otherwhise. Cutting off other races from this area will be paramount.




The green above and left, and the blue above and right are the two stars we have a shot at initially. Once again I play the odds and send the Colonizer out to the green one, while the scouts will try to push into the middle of the galaxy, the other direction. Also pretty unique here is having Altair be in the middle of a nebula. Fighting here could be problematic, although if things come to that I'll probably have bigger difficulties.




Well, it's not the Guardian. But I can't say a whole lot more for it. I only even took this system because of the significant chance the other one is hostile, and even then I seriously thought about waiting to see what the other one was.




Good thing I didn't wait. Let the record show that the last three opening systems I've run into(last two games, leaving aside Orion last time), have all had minimum-size population maximums. I really did tick off the MOO RNG by winning that Sakkra game. This is also four consecutive bad or worse starts in a row. Everything since that Meklar cakewalk has been a case of just 'come get your medicine now. Have an extra helping of pain, why don't ya!'

So the main difference between this game and last game is Proteus does increase range(towards the galactic rim). That's basically it. For all the normal purposes such as building Recons, population incubating, adding a bit to research, it'll be virtually worthless. It is a small, but very small, bonus to the economic situation over not having a second system at all.




This was better news, and the next one I reached. You can see here that the Recon Rush has just started, and to the right of Berel and Omicron there is a dark-space gap. That makes this a key point to hold, and it's a fine system in economic terms as well. The synergy of finding a system that is both economically and strategically valuable is not something that happens much.




Another nice one. Going downwards is looking more enticing by the moment.




This was our only hope for another planet within range. That hope is now gone, so it'll be research next up.




Meh.




Five parsecs out. If we're going to cross dark space in an upward direction, it'll almost assuredly have to be here. A big research planet ... eventually.




Rather yuck. Soon after this the Sakkra came to visit Berel with a scout, our first indication of another race. The first range increase that came in was Hydrogen Fuel Cells, after which we were able to get moving again.




This now raised a rather thorny situation. Proteus couldn't supply enough population to get Exis going, never mind any more systems. But if Altair sent people, we'd be weakening our only industrial base. I got some more colony ships out, and then sent out transfers from the homeworld only when I'd run out of obvious, immediate options. Laan, Berel, anything we could get.




Escalon was needed to get range to Berel, but it also provided a moment of kindness from the RNG: a few years after we landed here, the population distribution process was given a nice shot in the arm when Escalon became fertile. After these colony ships went out, I'm able to rejoin the original narrative in the late 2340s:

At this point I need Altair to do a bunch of things which it can't do adequately, but I've got to do what I can. I want to get Falcons out to a few worlds; I've identified 4-5 of them that are of reasonable strategic importance. I'd like a few at each system but realistically that's not going to happen. I'm also going to research Improved Eco, transfer enough population out to get the new colonies going, and put some money into the reserve to help them there as well.




As can be seen here there's not a great deal of investment in each area, but I don't really have much choice in that. Proteus is worthless and the other colonies have a long way before they can contribute.




Here's another one we can get. It's in range so that one Colonizer that is out there will head here. About a third of Altair's population goes out over the next two years, some to Berel and some to Escalon. That should give us the jump-start we need.